Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-17-Speech-4-439-000"
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"en.20110217.23.4-439-000"2
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"Mr President, the European Union, in implementing its well-established Death Penalty Guidelines, has long been active in fighting the death penalty in Yemen, both generally and by targeting individual cases.
The capital punishment of juvenile offenders has always taken place in Yemen. In earlier times, however, cases were largely unknown and civil society was not as active. The EU-funded and UNICEF-implemented Juvenile Justice Programme has contributed significantly to raising awareness, both in Yemen and within the international community. This programme was carried out together with a coalition of civil society organisations and the Higher Council for Motherhood and Childhood.
However, awareness-raising is not enough. We need to follow up with actions. As a last resort, the EU delegation actively carries out démarches to halt executions. The two most recent cases were in December 2010 for Fuad Ahmed Ali Abdulla, and in January 2011 for Muhammed Taher Thabet Samoum. In both cases, the execution was halted – after EU intervention – to allow for presentation of evidence of age. The issue of Muhammed Taher Thabet Samoum was taken up again last week. It seems now as if a presidential pardon is the only hope for a formal reversal of the sentence. The EU and UNICEF have again contacted President Saleh and now, according to our own feedback from Sana’a, the execution is on hold again.
Yemen is bound by international obligations, and by its own juvenile justice legislation and penal code, not to execute juveniles. The reasons for having juveniles on death row are mainly attributed to a lack of capacity in age determination. We are therefore, together with UNICEF, looking into how to assist Yemen in building up such expertise, so as to arrest the issue at its roots. In the immediate term, the EU will encourage the setting up of an independent body to re-examine the age of juvenile offenders. We will also aim to support the capacities of lawyers to provide legal assistance to juveniles. In the medium-term, we are looking to develop EU support for an effective civil registry authority.
We are thus taking this extremely grave issue very seriously and using all available means. The Government of Yemen has shown receptiveness to our démarches. The EU remains prepared to assist them, now and in the future, to achieve our goal of eradicating the death penalty totally."@en1
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